Tracers or tracer materials have been used in the oil industry as a way to identify treatment fluid paths. More recently, tracer materials have been used to identify produced fluid. Particularly, tracers or tracer materials have been placed on screen joints at the sand face to gather data on the produced fluid.
Tracer materials are installed in screens by various methods. For example, the tracer material can be installed as a solid during the manufacturing process of the screen. In this method, the tracer material is installed before the end rings are welded to the wire-wrapped jackets of the screen. Another method, used post-manufacturing, can be to inject the tracer material into the screen in a liquid form. This particular method requires specialized equipment to inject and “cure” a tracer matrix into the screen. Such methods have considerable disadvantages and limitations for usage of tracers in field applications.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved tracer installation apparatus and methods for using the same.